Over the years I have participated in campaigns protecting whales, dolphins and seal throughout the world. Now for the first time in my own backyard, I would have to launch a campaign to confront a very powerful and corrupt multibillion dollar industry, the captive display industry. The captive display industry as a coalition is called the Alliance of Marine Parks with Sea World being the most powerful player. In 30 years they had never faced a challenge like the one they were about to face. And I hadn't felt the emotions and frustration to this degree in any of my work in the past.

The Alliance of Marine Parks is really another name for Anhueser Busch which owns Sea World, USA. In the name of education the Alliance lobbies domestically and internationally to restrict laws protecting dolphins and whales. The Alliance has been involved with the drive kill in Japan were Japanese fishermen force hundreds of dolphins and whales onto the beach and let them die. But not before marine park representatives pay the fishermen for the pretty ones, the good breeders, for marine parks throughout the world. During many Federally authorized captures many dolphins and whales have died, some of them have had their bellies slit open and weighted down by chains to sink them to the bottom so the Sea World capture team didn’t have to report the deaths. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Sea World and the Alliance have been getting away with murder for years.

We had about 8 months before Shedd’s capture permit expired. 8 months to try to stop them. I immediately called a press conference and announced that the WHALE RESCUE TEAM will try to stop the capture before it happened. But if we couldn’t, we’d launch a flotilla of boats, airplanes and kayaks to confront the Shedd capture team. Shedd officials new of my history and knew I wasn’t bluffing. We got their attention and the media’s attention immediately.

My plan was to put intense pressure on Shedd and the governmental agencies that allow and support these captures. In the past, the Fed’s have granted 99.4% of all applications to capture marine mammals. The protection of all marine mammals in the U.S. is in the hands of the National Marine Fisheries Service(N.M.F.S.). N.M.F.S. is part of the Department of Commerce. Guess who gets the priority. I’ll give you a hint, it’s not the marine mammals. We were up against the Shedd, the Alliance, the N.M.F.S., even the Coast Guard, all doing their best to help the Shedd Aquarium capture these dolphins.

We started a nationwide letter writing campaign. Class rooms of school children were drawing picture titled, “keep the dolphins free” We pursued political pressure and legal pressure only to be squashed by the powerful Alliance. We kept up the intense media coverage for months. We didn’t give up. Shedd felt so much pressure they flew their head trainer and one their public relations officers to California to meet with me. They really flew out to do damage control because of the negative media coverage they'd been getting. They were playing right into our hands.

Sometimes it felt like they wouldn't dare attempt the capture. But I knew they had done it more than once in the past, and their permit expired December 31 and they also knew they would have difficultly getting another permit without it being highly scrutinized. In 1988 Shedd captured 8 White-sided dolphins in Monterey Bay they let 3 go and one died. In 1992 they captured 4 beluga whales in Canada, within 30 days two of the whales died from a lethal injection of anantiparasitic drug given to them by a Shedd vet, unlicensed to practice in Illinois. The death of the two beluga's prompted the Canadian government to ban the capturing of Beluga's for import to the U.S.

Things were tough, always a shortage of money, no solid leads and misleading information coming from Shedd and N.M.F.S.. Then in response to an article about our efforts in the L.A. Times I received a call from Dick Donner and Lauren Schuler Donner the executive producers of FREE WILLY. The Donners offered their support which included their 60ft. boat the LADY HAWKE and it’s crew. We would use the LADY HAWKE as the base of operations when out at sea. Richard Donners staff played a key role in this campaign. The campaign was working, we were getting the word out and letting people know of an issue most knew nothing about.

The U.S. Coast Guard called me and asked me if I would meet with them to discuss my intentions. I went with CeCe from the Donners office and Michael McDonald a writer, who would join us at sea. On the other side of the table was, Capt. James B. Morris, Lt. Commander Chet A. Hartley. LtJG.Jeffery C. Jackson, and 3 other assorted Coast Guard brass. Shedd attorney John Hodges told them I was going to ram and sink the capture boat and jump in the water with a knife in hand and probably injure someone. Hodges, who is also the attorney for the Alliance and the Tuna industry asked for a safety zone. The safety zone would keep the WHALE RESCUE TEAM and the media away. I told them my intentions were to interfere with the capture with non-violent tactics. I also told them I would enter the water if Shedd captured any dolphins and would cut the dolphins free. I told them the knives I would be using would be safety knives, the same knives I use rescuing whales and sea lions from gillnets off the California coast. The Coast Guard even calls the WHALE RESCUE TEAM for emergencies and is very aware of our rescue abilities. Coast Guard told me they would be enforcing the safety zone and escorting the capture boats. They said, “If that safety zone was broken, I’d be arrested.” I said “so be it”. “I’ll do my best not to cause injury of human life and wouldn’t resist Coast Guard divers. But I will defend the dolphins and myself from the capture team”. Capt. Morris said most of them in the room have alot of respect for the way we’ve handled this issue and also respect my recognized boating abilities. When we left the meeting I really thought one of them would drop a dime and let us know the names of the capture boats and where they were leaving from. But it was not to be. We had 10 thousand square miles of ocean to find the mystery boats. That was the primary capture zone. To go outside of that primary zone and enter the secondary zone they would need special permission. An important point in the future.

The battle was getting hot. literally also. I was one of the lucky ones that survived the fires in Topanga Canyon in 1993. In the middle of all this intensity, I was contacted by Chicago media asking if I was still able to launch the flotilla. Inside sources said Shedd capture team was on their way. So I launched the flotilla.

With alot of media hoopla we launched our boats from Marina Del Rey. We took CNN, most local L.A. network affiliates, newspaper folks out a couple miles on the LADY HAWKE and then we shuttled them back to shore after they got the interviews and video they needed. I was doing live national radio interviews with the cellular phone we used for the campaign. The word was getting out.

I asked Steve Hindi an activist from Chicago and Shedd’s biggest headache in Chicago, to come along with his video camera and tape everything because I knew we could use the footage for immediate press releases and also to continue getting press after the campaign. He did a great job as did everyone. Steves footage has been used in many stories, including a KCET, PPS Special called “BATTLE FOR THE DOLPHINS”.

About 25 miles off the California coast lies the island of Catalina which we used as our base of operations onboard the LADY HAWKE. Hour after hour after hour new information would come in. Deciphering what was real was a mind boggling task. We had volunteers looking for the mystery boats at the harbors from Santa Barbara to the border of Mexico. I had 5 boats with me at Catalina. 3 volunteer airplanes were taking shifts monitoring designated areas. We also had a renta-helicopter we used on the island. Mike McDonald and I spent long hours at the chart table trying to make some sense of the info I was getting in. Mike and I made more than one midnight run chasing a hot lead. I remember the look on Mikes face as we sped along at 50mph, pitch-black on WHALE RESCUES 20ft. inflatable. I told him not to worry, little did he know I wasn’t practicing what I was preaching. I was sure glad he was with me.

Days went by and still no good leads. At the last moment the Coast guard decided not to call a safety zone, which meant we wouldn’t be hearing the public announcement on the location when it began. The safety zone stuff was just another way to distract us. Things were tense.

As I mentioned before, Shedd’s federal permit to dolphins was limited to a primary and secondary capture zone. The larger zone was an area that extended from the Mexican border north to Pt. Arguello above Santa Barbara and 200 miles out to sea. The permit allowed Shedd to capture the dolphins in the secondary area only “if after consultation with the Southwest Region office if it is determined that the expanded area was necessary.” according to a letter from the N.M.F.S dated November 22.

On November 26th Scott Smullen, N.M.F.S. spokesperson to Mike McDonald on the LADY HAWKE said that the smaller area was in effect.

We had all boats, airplanes and the helicopter up on the 27th. I even decided to patrol some of the secondary zone, but around noon I got the dreaded news from Ben White in San Diego, Shedd had eluded our flotilla and captured the dolphins in the secondary zone. We missed them by 20 miles. To say we were devastated was an understatement. I’ve been doing this work along time and defeats don’t get any easier. You have to get up and keep fighting. That’s what we immediately did and will continue to do.

One of our volunteer airplanes picked me up on Catalina and we flew to Santiago where Shedd set up a temporary holding area they use for what they call acclimation. Acclimation is keeping the dolphins in a tank, 20ft. wide and 6ft. deep. The dolphins swim in their own feces and starve until they’ll eat dead fish filled with antibiotics and ulcer medicine fed to them by human trainers. In reality acclimation is the breaking down of the spirit of these beautiful creatures.

I rented a room at the Vagabond Hotel, 50 yards from the heavily guarded holding area which was set up in a boat yard at Kittenberg Marine.

At night you could hear the distress cries of the newly captured dolphins. A sound that went right through many of us. A sound I’ll never forget. If one of the dolphins should die, Shedd would go out for another, we needed to be prepared for that.

It got pretty crazy sometimes. Shedd was still spreading lies now telling the Police someone was calling in bomb threats. The Shedd people had to leave the armed compound sometimes. One time, a Shedd trainer/capture person and Ken Rameriz and Robinett tried to leave in a car. Well they didn’t get very far. They were immediately surrounded by around 75 screaming people, who by the looks of them wanted these two good old boys. The police came while I was negotiating, through Ramerezes closed window to try to have him answer some questions to the crowd. Ramerez and Robinett just stared straight ahead. The crowd was yelling to them how does it feel to be held captive? We let them pass.

Shedd called the dolphins 13, 15, and 17. We named them Hope, Faith and Freedom.
We gave them names hoping to have the country identify with them and embrace them and call for the release of these dolphins and end all other captures.

The Donner’s got Warner Bros. involved, we got all are volunteers together, we got support from a popular local radio show in San Dingo and we had a rally in the parking lot of the Vagabond Hotel overlooking the holding tanks. A Warners Bros. plane flew down Jayni and Chevy Chase the Donners, Peter Horton, the cast of Full House. Rue Mc Clanahan, and others celebrities. For me personally it was a very inspiring day. Close to 1000 people showed up for the demonstration many of them children. To see the kids faces to hear them chant set them free, to read the signs, end all captures, gave my spirit a bit of a lift, another reason to continue.

Our message was getting out.

On December 22,1993 the dolphins were flown to Chicago.

From the first day of the capture Shedd officials said the dolphins were in good heath and spirits. They didn’t stray from that public relations rhetoric.

One Feb. 27, 1995 Freedom the male dolphin captured was found dead at the bottom of the pool at the Shedd Aquarium.

Although we didn’t succeed in stopping the capture the months of media attention allowed us to bring this issue into the homes of millions of people educating them about an issue they knew nothing about or had believed the public relations rhetoric of the captive display industry. The challenge to the exploitative industry was also very important. Believe me, Shedd, Sea World or any facility will think twice about coming to the Pacific or anywhere in the U.S., to capture dolphins again. They now know they will face a challenge on land and at sea.

Our efforts also inspired a movement in California to end captures forever.

The WHALE RESCUE TEAM will continue our efforts until all marine mammals remain free in the wild where they belong.